This invention relates to direct mail promotional articles, and especially dimensional mailers including marketing insert materials.
Direct mail articles are commonly used to attract potential customers to merchants such as automobile dealers and the like. They are mailed to demographically and geographically chosen likely buyers by the dealers themselves, or, more likely, by marketing service firms. The aim is to build and direct interested retail traffic into the dealers. Recent published studies, such as a 1993 study by Baylor University, cited by the Promotional Products Association International, found that the use of dimensional mailers can significantly improve response rates over flat direct mail alone. In addition, the study indicated that the packaging of promotional products in dimensional mailers can evoke curiosity as well as further increase direct mail response rates.
Traditional dimensional promotional mailers have certain drawbacks to their effectiveness. For example, a boxed item may be too heavy to be mailed at the lowest rate of first class postage. Further, recent events have caused people to be wary of unsolicited items received in the mail, especially bulky items which cannot be examined prior to opening.
The present invention provides a light weight, easily assembled, easily mailed package with a transparent window for the postal recipient to view the contents thereof. By this inspection, the recipient is both reassured of the safety of the package and intrigued by the promotional item therein.
In order to improve the favorable response rate from direct mail advertising and commercial solicitations, it is desirable to include a personalized response device containing the original addressee""s name and address, and incentivizing the addressee to contact the sponsoring dealership or other business on a form that permits selection and confirmation of merchandise or services to be ordered. Typically, the personalized response device is in the form of a certificate for a discount or other incentive redeemable at the sponsoring retail dealer. In addition, the package may contain a game or promotional token which may have intrinsic value, extrinsic value, or both.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a direct mail article in the form of transparent semi-rigid mailing tube that is adapted to receive printed promotional materials and a promotional token, all of which can be self-mailed without a separate outer wrapper or envelope.
It is another object of this invention to provide a direct mail article in the form of transparent mailing tube that can be mailed without an outer wrapper or envelope, and that displays addressee, return address and postage information.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a direct mail article in the form of transparent mailing tube that can receive a promotional token which is readily displayed within the mailing tube.
Another object of the invention is to provide a object of this invention to provide a direct mail article in the form of transparent mailing tube having end caps to seal the ends of the tube during mailing but are readily removable by the intended addressee.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide object of this invention to provide a direct mail article in the form of transparent mailing tube having end caps to seal the ends of the tube during mailing and to display further promotional information.
The above objects of the invention, and others, are met by a direct mail article produced from a transparent plastic mailing tube having two solid color plastic end caps. A certificate or other promotional document is provided, having addressee, return address and postage information printed thereon in one quadrant of one side of the certificate. When the certificate is folded along orthogonal fold lines to provide four plies, the side of the quadrant having that mailing information is exposed. The folded certificate may be inserted into the cylindrical tube, displaying the mailing information through the clear plastic of the tube and leaving a gap between the opposite edges of the folded certificate framing a window. The promotional token may be inserted in the tube to be visibly displayed in said window. The assembled mailing tube is of sufficient structural integrity to be transmitted through the mail without an outer wrapper or envelope.
In a preferred embodiment, the certificate is dimensioned to be approximately twice as long as the mailing tube, so that when folded normal to this length it will fit within the length of the tube. The width of the certificate is dimensioned so that, when folded across its width, the resulting dimension will be somewhat shorter than the periphery of the inside wall of the cylindrical tube. When the folded certificate is curled and inserted in the transparent plastic tube, it forms an arcuate plane displaying postal information on its convex side. The arc of the plane thus formed frames a gap between its opposite lineal edges. This gap frames a window allowing display of the promotional token inside the tube. In the preferred embodiment of the invention,